Entries associated with the tag "Pickling":

After taking Nance Klehm's "wild pickling" workshop last fall, I spent the winter trial-and-errorring my way through jar after jar of homemade kimchi. Some of it was spicy enough to put hair on your esophagus, and one batch was so salty it could strip paint, but it was an easy and (mostly) delicious way to keep veg in my diet through the darkest months of the year, and I'm fairly confident my boosted sour-cabbage consumption kept the flu and other bugs (mostly) at bay. So I was excited to get an e-mail this morning announcing a new slate of "Living Kitchen" classes for spring and summer. In addition to pickling (three ways, with brine, whey, and vinegar), Klehm's offering classes on cheese, sourdough bread, herbal tinctures and salves, and "urban foraging." Workshops on mead and floral wine, wild cidering, canning and dehydrating food, and more are planned for the late summer and fall.

Her message sends wanna-be students to www.spontaneous.vegetation.net for a complete schedule, but the link appears to be broken at the moment, so I'm pasting the info below. Space is limited; RSVP to nettlesting[at]yahoo.com for more info and locations. Discounts are available if you register for more than one workshop.

Three-way pickling, Wed 4/11, 6-9 PM, $50

Wild sourdough starter and bread making, Sun 4/15, 1-4 PM, $50 

Raw cheese #1 (cultured butter, buttermilk, crème fraiche, yogurt), Sun 5/6, 1-5 PM, $60

Raw cheese #2 (cottage cheese, queso fresco, mozzarella), Sun 5/27, 1-5 PM, $60

Local medicine (tinctures, salves, syrups, lozenges, teas), Sun 6/24, 1-5 PM, $50 

Urban foraging walks are planned for Sun 4/20, 5/12, and 6/16, 2-4 PM, by donation

I went to Nance Klehm's pickling workshop last Sunday and came home with a briny mason jar stuffed to the brim with kimchi. It burbled away in a cupboard, next to the coffee cups, for five days, and when it was done it was tart and tangy and very garlicky, just like I like it--though a little more ginger wouldn't  have hurt. Best of all, it was easy as pie. Easier than pie, actually. Here's how to make your own.

• Roughly chop up a bunch of veggies, your choice. We used Napa cabbage, bok choy, daikon, carrots, green onions, whole garlic cloves, and a sprinkling of burdock and dandelion root (mmm, fiber).
• Crush a bunch of dried red chiles; do the same to more garlic cloves--a handful, or as many as you think you can handle.
• Peel and finely shred a knob of ginger.
• Mix everything together in a bowl, adjusting the recipe to taste. If you don't like daikon, or dandelion, don't use it.
• Pulverize a cup or so of sea salt with a mortar and pestle. Then dilute the salt in purified water until the water is saturated or, in Nance's words, "the salt falls out."
• Stuff jars with veggies, leaving an inch or so at the top.
• Pour brine over veg.

That's it. The important thing to remember is to make sure the vegetables are always submerged in the brine while they ferment. Otherwise, they'll get funky and mold. You can do this by just pushing the stuff down by hand every day, or by creating a "water bladder" out of a baggie and a rubber band. Fill the baggie with a bit of water (you'll have to eyeball it), tie it up into a balloon with the rubber band, and plop it in the top of the jar. Leave the concoction open to the air--don't put the lid on--for at least three days, then taste. If it's not done yet, give it a couple more days, then close it up and refrigerate. Voila--kimchi.